Garage doors equipped with an automatic door opening and closing system are prevalent in the homes of the general populace. Garage door openers are provided to open and close the garage door. Typically, the openers are accompanied by a remote control to provide a signal for opening and closing of the door, especially from outside the garage.
The problem of preventing unauthorized activation of the garage door opener is a major concern for home owners. Thieves gain access to the house through the garage by activating the garage door opener with an unauthorized signal. The unauthorized signals come from remote controls used to activate other garage door openers and even used to activate other unrelated household appliances, such as a television.
A number of products have been developed in an attempt to disable automatic garage door openers in order to prevent unauthorized access. One such product is a locking device designed to be used with various well-known types of automatic openers, e.g. with an elongated, threaded screw-type opener drive train, as well as with a roller chain-type drive train. The locking device blocks any unauthorized opening of the garage door with a locking pin inserted between the rollers of the door's flanking guide tracks. The locking device may be actuated by an electrical signal, manual push-button, or the turn of a key.
In addition, some garage door openers include a kill switch to deactuate and de-energize the opener for extended periods of time. However, the kill switch is often placed inside the garage door opening mechanism, making it difficult to reach and see. Since the switch is often out-of-sight, the availability of its use as a security measure is forgotten.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a garage door opener security device that is not only affordable and easy to activate, but one that prompts a person through accessibility and visibility to activate the device on a regular basis.